At 11.00 hours on 26 Jan 1943, U-255 sank an iced up steamer with two torpedoes west of the Bear Island. The ship had just escaped the chasing U-625 (Benker) when it was torpedoed by the other U-boat, which surfaced after the attack and tried to question the survivors in one lifeboat. They only spoke Russian and could not be understand.

Two Soviet freighters went missing in the Barents Sea in January 1943 and both were apparently sunk by U-255. The first sunk was probably Krasnyj Partizan (Master A.F. Belov) that had left the Kola Inlet on 24 January and went missing thereafter. The last radio message was received on 26 January, reporting an air attack near Bear Island.